Andrew Whitmarsh

Historians have generally considered that the British army dismissed the potential value of aircraft prior to the First World War, only realizing the implications of military aviation after its outbreak. Before 1914, however, many senior British army officers had begun to understand that air power would soon change the nature of warfare. They had reached this understanding as a result of demonstrations by aircraft during many of the manoeuvres and other training exercises carried out in the years 1910—13.

This is a study of the development of the tactical and operational methods of the 12th Division of the British Expeditionary Force in France in the First World War. It seeks to explore the development of the tactical and operational practices of the 12th Division, and by extrapolation the BEF, during the course of the war. ‘Tactics’ and ‘operations’ (the latter is admittedly an anachronism) are ill-defined words, particularly in the case of the First World War. Exactly where the dividing line between tactics and operations lies is not of great importance: this study simply examines the way in which the 12th Division sought to achieve the objectives laid down for it by higher commands. This obviously removes from consideration matters in which the Division had no say, such as the debate over whether attacks should aim for a ‘breakthrough’, or ‘bite and hold’. Tactics and operations range from the use of individual weapons, such as hand grenades and rifles, by small groups of men, to the detailed plans of artillery bombardments and infantry formations drawn up for major offensives.

This study does not attempt to give a narrative account of the service of the 12th Division during the First World War. Nor, for reasons of space, can it consider every offensive and defensive action made by the 12th Division. Analysis therefore focuses on the major battles of the Division. The focus is on offensive rather than defensive action, since the BEF was on the strategic and operational offensive for the majority of the war. In addition, the soldiers of the BEF trained primarily for offensive action. Space restrictions also mean that this study concentrates on the infantry and artillery of the 12th Division. It must, however, be observed that many other branches of the Division also played important parts in the preparation for, and the conduct of, the Division’s war service: for example, the pioneers, Royal Engineers, Royal Army Service Corps and Royal Army Medical Corps.

Historians have generally considered that the British Army dismissed the potential value of aircraft prior to the First World War, only realizing the implications of military aviation after its outbreak. Before 1914, however, many senior British Army officers had begun to understand that air power would soon change the nature of warfare. They had reached this understanding as a result of demonstrations by aircraft during many of the manoeuvres and other training exercises carried out in the years 1910-1913.

After more than eighty years, the British strategic bombing campaign of 1917-1918 may seem little more than a historical curiosity. It is generally only considered in passing, as the precedent for the much larger bombing campaigns of the Second World War. Yet it deserves attention for many reasons--whether at the level of the personal bravery of those individuals involved, or that of the confused political environment in which it came about.

Historians have generally considered that the British Army dismissed the potential value of aircraft prior to the First World War, only realizing the implications of military aviation after its outbreak. Before 1914, however, many senior British Army officers had begun to understand that air power would soon change the nature of warfare. They had reached this understanding as a result of demonstrations by aircraft during many of the manoeuvres and other training exercises carried out in the years 1910-1913.

David Lowenthal has observed that in today’s museums,
“nothing seems too horrendous to commemorate”
(Lowenthal 1985). Yet museums frequently
portray a sanitised version of warfare. The twentieth
century saw the development of commemorative traditions:
customs and narratives by which individuals,
groups and nations remember, commemorate and
attempt to resolve memories of the traumatic experience
that is war. These conventions often also govern
museum interpretation of war.

This dissertation examines the representation of
war in two very different museums: Britain’s national
Imperial War Museum, and the regional In
Flanders Fields Museum at Ypres, Belgium. The
Imperial War Museum tends to follow established
commemorative traditions. In its recently-opened
Holocaust exhibition, however, it has made use of a
different style of commemoration. In Flanders Fields
has consciously attempted to avoid traditional forms
of commemoration, which could be seen as glamorising
or sanitising war. This museum focuses on the
experiences of individual soldiers of all nations, and
tells visitors that they must learn from the First
World War to work for peace.

“They shall not grow old,
As we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them,
Nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun
And in the morning
We will remember them.”
– Laurence Binyon (1869-1943)

David Lowenthal has observed that in today’s museums, “nothing seems too horrendous to commemorate” (Lowenthal 1985: 347). Yet museums frequently portray a sanitised version of warfare. The Twentieth Century saw the development of commemorative traditions: customs and narratives by which individuals, groups and nations remember, commemorate and attempt to resolve memories of the traumatic experience that is war. These conventions often also govern museum interpretation of war.

The story of the preparations for D-Day and the course of the Normandy Landings, illustrated with some 200 photographs from the collections of the D-Day Museum, Portsmouth. 

From the introduction:

“D-Day” is a phrase of military origins that has entered everyday language as meaning a decisive moment of action. A generic term for the day on which a military operation starts, in the context of warfare the expression now particularly refers to 6 June 1944, the first day of the Normandy Landings. D-Day truly was a turning point in world history. It began the final stage of the destruction of the Nazi regime, the liberation of occupied Europe and the end of the Second World War.

Many books have been written about D-Day. This volume takes a fresh look at this period in our history, illustrated with photographs, maps, documents, drawings and other material from the extensive archives of the D-Day Museum at Portsmouth, much of it unpublished. The D-Day Museum is the UK’s only museum that has the sole aim of telling the story of the Normandy Landings, and is also the home of the unique Overlord Embroidery (examined in more detail below).

Although the overall story of D-Day is widely known, there are still aspects that have not yet been fully explored by historians. This book aims to put D-Day in context, but the limitations of space do not permit the mention of every unit that took part in the fighting in Normandy, or indeed every stage of the battle.

Some of the images in this book were produced for official purposes, while other people carried their own personal camera (or sketchbook) in their infantryman’s rucksack, tank turret or landing craft bridge, often in difficult and dangerous conditions. The author would like to thank the photographers and artists who produced the illustrations used here, which enable us to gain greater understanding of this period.

This book is respectfully dedicated to the veterans of D-Day and the Battle of Normandy.

Tells the story of "Pompey" (the city of Portsmouth) during the Second World War. These years saw great changes for the city and its people. Portsmouth also played an important part in the war at a national level.

From the introduction:

For centuries, Portsmouth’s prosperity was based on warfare and the navy. The city built, supplied and maintained the royal fleet, and Portsmouth’s fortunes rose or declined according to whether England was at peace or at war. For centuries, Portsmouth people have served aboard those ships, or have been part of the army garrison that guarded the city, which was one of Britain’s most heavily-defended areas. Yet never did the cost of war hit home as it did during the Second World War. The war was unquestionably Portsmouth’s “Finest Hour”. The city and its people suffered a series of devastating bombing attacks, as well as coping with all the greater or lesser sacrifices and restrictions of wartime. Then in 1944, Portsmouth and the surrounding area played the key role in launching Operation Overlord, the Allied landings in Normandy on D-Day (6 June 1944) and the campaign that followed as the Allies established a foothold in German-occupied Europe.

This book showcases some of the hundreds of photographs taken during the war by Portsmouth people, which have been given to the city’s Museums & Records Service over the past six decades. Many of these images have never been seen by the public before. In wartime conditions, the opportunities for photography were limited. Camera film was in short supply for private use, while security considerations and censorship restricted most people’s ability to take photographs. Those personal snapshots that were taken typically relate only to family and friends. Another vital source for the book has therefore been the archive of photographs from the city’s newspaper, The News (then the Portsmouth Evening News). These were taken by Victor Stewart, the newspaper’s only wartime photographer. Photographs from The News have been particularly useful as a record of major events that ordinary people were not able to photograph.

There were two main considerations in choosing images for this book: each had to be a well-composed photograph or a legible document, as well as showing something significant. Not all aspects of Portsmouth’s war are recorded in equal numbers of photographs, but every attempt has been made to cover the subject as widely as possible. The collections held by Portsmouth Museums & Records Service mean that this volume focuses on the area within the modern-day boundaries of the city of Portsmouth. Yet Portsmouth’s war cannot be considered in complete isolation from its neighbours, such as Gosport and Hayling Island, and where possible other locations have been mentioned.

The Second World War brought huge changes to Portsmouth. To take just one simple indicator of change, the city’s population fell from over 260,000 before the war to 136,500 in September 1941 (this decrease was due to evacuation, both organised and private, as well as other pressures of war). The experience of war was different for every individual involved: the newly-wed widow who barely got to know her husband before he was killed overseas; the man who fought the fires of the Blitz and then saw active service abroad with the armed forces; the young schoolboy for whom the war was primarily a time of excitement and freedom; the teenage nurse in one of the city’s hospitals who treated the civilian casualties of the Blitz as well as the servicemen brought back from the fighting fronts; the housewife who had to see her family through rationing, evacuation and bombing raids; all those who, after a hard day’s work (which often contributed to the war effort in some way) then spent their nights on duty as ARP wardens, firewatchers or in the Home Guard; the many people who found themselves in previously unknown positions of responsibility and having to make decisions that had major effects for others. This book aims to reflect some of this range of service and experiences.

It is perhaps true that war brings out both the best and the worst in human beings: self-sacrifice and comradeship on the one hand, and cruelty and destruction on the other. Portsmouth in wartime saw countless examples of courage, endurance, community spirit and selflessness. Of course these traits were not universal, and to pretend otherwise – that fear, doubt or self-interest were completely absent – would be to take a romanticised view. Yet the reason for the survival of British society in general, and of Portsmouth’s people in particular, was because the vast majority of citizens showed those positive qualities. This book is therefore dedicated not just to all Portsmouth people who were killed or injured during the Second World War, but to all those who lived through it.